Twenty six years after a mans house was razed in a demolition drive and his alternate residence was handed to another man who fraudulently impersonated him,a city court has,after the mans death,ordered the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to provide to his family a house within 90 days. Slamming the DDA for its laxity,Additional District Judge Kamini Lau has sought a comprehensive inquiry into the episode and asked the director of the land agency and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI),which is also investigating similar cases of fraudulent plot possession,to probe the conspiracy and impersonation angle in the case. For Subhakar Tiwari,the battle began in April 1989 after the DDA demolished his house in Kingsway Camp,North Delhi. The demolition was carried out under the Delhi Development Act in view of subsequent development of the area and Tiwari was to be provided an alternate accommodation in a nearby locality. According to his petition,however,no demolition slip was issued to him,as required under legal provisions. A lower court dismissed Tiwaris suit in 2003,observing that Tiwari failed to rebut the DDAs argument,which stated that a 25-sq m house had already been allotted to him. The allotment register of the department also bore his thumb impression,the DDA said. Tiwari then filed an appeal against the order but before evidence could be filed in court,he passed away. His wife and four children pursued the case claiming the thumb impression on the allotment slip was not Tiwaris. Someone else impersonated him to get the benefit,they said. A scrutiny of the thumb imprints on different documents proved them right: Tiwaris thumb impression in the court records did not match the one on the allotment slip. It is highly unfortunate that the DDA,a statutory body which is under an obligation to ensure the evictees are provided with an alternative accommodation,has been extremely casual, ADJ Lau noted. The court further said there was ample evidence on record to suggest the connivance of DDA officials with the impersonator. This is a clear case of impersonation,where the actual evictee has been deprived of an alternative accommodation on account of some other person walking away with the same,which cannot happen without the connivance of the officials of the respondent,an aspect that requires investigation, ADJ Lau held. The court asked the DDA to provide a house to Tiwaris family within 90 days of the order.
